HISTORYCOLONIAL BURMA2971540
Lower Burma is
reunifi ed after
Tabinshwehti, the
ambitious and young
king of Taungoo,
defeats the Mon
kingdom at Bago –
helped by Burmans
fl eeing the Shan in
Inwa.1551
B a y i n n a u n g b e c o m e s
king and, having
conquered the Shan
in 1557, reunifi es all
of Myanmar as the
Second Burmese
Empire; his forces take
the Siam capital of
Ayuthaya in 1569.1599
Following his defeat
of Bago, the King
of Rakhaing grants
the Portuguese
mercenary Filipe
de Brito e Nicote
governorship of
the port of Syriam
(Thanlyin), which he
controls until 1613.1760
Burmese King
Alaungpaya, having
conquered Inwa, Pyay
(Prome), Dagon (which
he renames ‘Yangon’)
and Tenasserim
(Tanintharyi), fails to
take Ayuthaya in Siam
and dies during the
retreat.Two Burmese kings later, Bagan Min started his reign in the same
manner that many did: with mass executions to rid the capital of his
potential rivals. An 1852 incident involving the possible kidnapping of
two British sea captains (some argue it never happened) gave the Brit-
ish a welcome excuse for igniting another confl ict, and an opportunity
for more land. The British quickly seized all of southern Burma, includ-
ing Yangon and Pathein (Bassein). They then marched north to Pyay
(Prome), facing little opposition.
The Final Two Kings
The unpopular Bagan Min was ousted in favour of the more capable
and revered Mindon Min, who moved the capital to Mandalay. Palace in-
trigues, including the murder of Mindon's powerful half-brother by Min-
don's own sons, stayed the king's hand in naming his successor. When
Mindon suddenly died following an attack of dysentery in 1878, the new
(rather reluctant) king, Thibaw Min, was propelled to power by his ruth-
less wife and scheming mother-in-law. The following massive ‘massacre
of kinsmen’ (79 of Thibaw Min’s rivals) made many British papers. Alas,
previous kings hadn’t had to face the consequences of world media atten-
tion, and this act did little to generate public backlash in the UK against
Britain’s fi nal, decisive war against the Burmese.
In 1885 it took Britain just two weeks to conquer Upper Burma, exile
Thibaw and his court to India and establish control over all the country.
The confl ict is sometimes called ‘the war over wood’, as Britain’s victory
allowed it to secure rights to Burma’s plentiful teak forests. Direct colonial
rule was implemented only where the Bamar were the majority (ie in the
central plains). The hill states of the Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin and Kayah
were allowed to remain largely autonomous – a decision that would have
ramifi cations in the run up to independence in 1948 and beyond.
The Impact of British Rule
Burma was henceforth administered as part of 'British India'. A fl ood of
Indian immigrants were allowed into the country, where they acted like
second colonisers: building businesses and taking rare, low-level govern-
ment jobs from the hostile indigenous population. In 1927 the majority of
Yangon’s population was Indian. Chinese immigration was also encour-
aged, further subjugating and marginalising the Burmese people.
Cheap British imports poured in, fuelled by rice profi ts. Many key cit-
ies and towns were renamed by the British with Yangon becoming Ran-
goon, Pyay became Prome and Bagan was renamed Pagan.
Much of Burma was considered a hardship posting by British colonial
offi cials, who found the locals diffi cult to govern. On the other hand, many
of the British offi cials were incompetent and insensitive, and refused to
One of the
biggest meteor
showers in
modern history
filled Burma’s sky
in 1885. Locals
saw it as an omen
of the end of their
kingdom.Despite a British-
held ban against
visiting Buddhist
sites (because
of the tradition
of visitors being
asked to remove
their shoes),
aviator Amelia
Earhart visited
them anyway
(and took off her
shoes).